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Iowa Slaughterhouse Gives Up on Horse Meat

American horses have quite literally dodged a bullet as a meat processing plant in Iowa has officially withdrawn plans to start slaughtering horses for human consumption.

While the struggle to prevent U.S. horse slaughter is far from over, this announcement is another victory resulting from a string of efforts by the ASPCA and other national and local organizations to ensure that the American people’s voices are heard: Opposition to horse slaughter for human consumption is broad and deep across every demographic.

A plant in New Mexico has also received a grant of inspection to slaughter horses, but it is on hold pending litigation and faces strong opposition from the state’s attorney general and governor. This means we have time to stop horse slaughter before it starts, and we implore you to join us today by urging your members of Congress to cosponsor the SAFE (Safeguard American Food Exports) Act.

Championed by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Representatives Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to the SAFE Act would prevent the slaughter of American horses as well as their transport to other countries for this purpose.

We have been simultaneously pressing for protections in the FY2014 Agriculture Appropriations bill to prevent tax dollars from being spent on inspections for these plants—no inspections would amount to a de facto ban on horse slaughter on U.S. soil. We must now ensure this language remains in the final version, which Congress is likely to take up next month when it returns from recess.

We know that slaughter is no answer to the problem of horse neglect—that is a hollow argument used by the industry to cover up its greed and abuses (and we are working with a vast network of horse rescues all over the country to provide at-risk horses with safe havens from commercial slaughter). Every step we take together brings us closer to a real and lasting victory for horses! Please take action now!

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Best news of the day...lasting implications. Thank you for the injunction against NM processing plant. I know it was costly and draining but it was the only right thing to do. I'm a very grateful supporter.

I disagree, Watch a video on you tube of how horses exported to MEXICO are slaughtered, horses being stabbed to death until they bleed out! I travel extensively all over the southern US. The problem of starving and neglected horses is HUGE! So the argument is it's better to let a horse stand in a pasture suffering from starvation than having an affordable option as some people desperately need, to take a old sick horse to a slaughter house in the USA not MEXICO where the horse can be humanely put down?! Makes no sense to me and I own horses! Upkeep is EXPENSIVE horses are being turned loose in Texas and Oklahoma because the value of equines has dropped to nothing! Domesticated horses can't survive on their own, they starve or worse yet get hit by a car. The slaughterhouses should be brought back it has nothing to do with cruelty. The population of neglected and unwanted horses will continue to rise if we don't bring slaughter back to the US.

You're kidding right? If you think horses are "humanely" put down in the US vs Mexico that is sheer ignorance. I have horses as well and the problem lies in over-breeding. Anyone releasing horses because of cost should be prosecuted. When you purchase this pet you are taking on the responsibility of their life! If your view is to slaughter them because they're expensive then we should do the same for all unwanted pets and/or children, they are expensive too! I'm horrified!

Sunday I was at my grandparents and i went down the road to see the pony that lives down there i asked if i could go see it but they said no because there is a dead horse in with it i reported them to the sheriff when i got home and they took care of the problem (i hope)